Are We Ever Enough?

A few weeks ago, my mom asked me to write on the topic of “value” and “worth” for her women’s Christian magazine for our Spanish speaking ladies. I was actually really hesitant and pushed back on writing this because I felt like I didn’t know what to say. I was fearful of sounding like a broken record repeating the words that so many others before me have said about finding your value in the Lord. The hesitation over writing this was also from knowing that I struggle with this topic myself. How could I possibly write an article about finding your worth in the Heavenly Father, if I myself struggle on occasion to grasp the truths of who Jesus says I am.

I previously wrote a blog about my body image, and how much Satan uses that ploy to make me feel like I’m not enough. After that blog, people might assume that I have gotten over this struggle and that I live a peaceful life knowing who I am in the eyes of my Father. Of course, there has been growth in this area in my life. There are days when I’m so grounded in my belief over the fact that God sees me far more precious than rubies, but then there are days when I’m praying for Him to help my unbelief. As you read this be aware that I still practice, and have to choose to believe what I know to be true. My prayer for you is that you are not only aware of how God sees you, but that you choose to believe it as well. I pray that you choose to believe it as much as you believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of our sins.

As I was trying to get my thoughts gathered about this topic, I reached out to my Instagram friends and asked them where they find themselves putting their worth in. I wanted to look inside what other people in different stages of life struggle with because, surely, not everyone struggles in the same areas that I do. A lot of the answers I received from women held relevance to my struggles. What I realized is that with every new stage in life, comes a fresh batch of lies from the Enemy that makes us believe that we are never enough. You’d be surprised at how many women struggle with new lies about their worth once they entered a stage in life that they had longed to be in, and perhaps even thought was the “answer” to all their life’s happiness and fulfillment. Let’s be real here and ask ourselves when anything or anyone is ever enough? The single woman feels like her worth only matters until she meets the love of her life and has children, while the married woman with a family is feeling like she’s not enough unless her kids are well-behaved and her house looks like it was reconstructed and decorated by Chip and Joanna Gains. The single woman strives to be fit and pretty to prove that she is attractive enough to catch the attention of a guy, while the married woman strives to be fit and pretty to subtly prove that she has it all together just like the mom on Instagram that went back to a size 2 a month after giving birth.  From the day we entered this earth the world has set these unspoken standards of what you should look like, what you should achieve, and act like. There is a hidden lie in these standards that says, “you are not enough” if you do not reach them. In fact, we don’t even realize that we’re being lied to, because at this point it just seems normal to strive for what everyone else is putting their value in. So many times our pride gets in the way of being fully aware of where we put our worth. There are not many of us that would like to admit the shallow reality that we feel better about ourselves when we achieve some kind of standard that is set by the world. It’s ok to have goals, routines, and aspirations, but it becomes dangerous the minute they rob your joy in who you are in Christ. We fool ourselves into thinking that we would be fine if the things we care about the most were to be taken away from us, or that the things we long for don’t make us feel devalued if we can’t attain them.

What if the one thing that makes you feel good about yourself is no longer around? What if your good looks were taken from you in a freak accident that distorted your physical appearance? What if your significant other is no longer around to give you that security in knowing you have someone that will love you till death do you part? What if you could no longer make a comfortable income to afford nice clothes and a decent house because you got laid off? What if your once well-behaved children, that made you feel proud of yourself, somehow get lost in their spiritual lives? What if your once size 4 body changes because you decided to be a missionary for a year and had little control over what you ate? That last one was for me if you couldn’t tell. Lol I could go on and on, but my point is that this world is ever-changing. The things we possess or strive to achieve on this earth to make us feel like we have a sense of self-worth will all pass away. The good news is that we have a God that is never-changing.

To close, I would like to ask you to take time and sit down with the Lord and ask Him to show you where you put your worth in. Is the truth of what He says about you enough to make you feel valued? Or does the world’s standards, and the voice of the enemy seem to make you feel empty and of no worth? If it’s the latter, you’re not alone. We see women like Hannah in 1 Samuel struggling with her sense of self-worth because she was unable to have children. Peninah and perhaps the world around her made her believe that she was an embarrassment to society for her bareness. I’d like to imagine that when Hannah fulfilled her promise in giving Samuel to the Lord, she came to terms that her self-worth wasn’t in being able to have children. I’d like to believe that she gladly gave her son to the Lord knowing that the God that gives and takes away was more than enough for her. I’m not gonna lie, it’s a daily battle to choose between what Christ says about you, or what Satan wants you to believe about yourself. I just recently logged off my personal Instagram and Facebook account because Satan has been using them as a tool in making me feel like I lack worth. If you’re reading this through my Instagram or Facebook link it’s because I asked one of my friends to log into them and post it for me so that I avoid the temptation of scrolling through my my feed. haha I was looking at other people’s lives through pictures and feeling insecure about my own. Now I’m logged off and using an account on Instagram that only follows my family and food bloggers. There are no voices telling me I am not enough when I look at pictures of food. haha I know, it sounds silly, but it’s my way of being aware of what Satan uses against me and turning the other way. Stay strong in the Word of Truth, and battle the voices that say you are not enough. The fact is that a day without spending time in God’s Word is a day without a shield to protect ourselves from the lies. Sustain yourself with the truth that God alone is enough, and that He is the only one that defines your worth. Remember that you are loved with never-ending love, and present your humble gratitude to the One that has your full attention. Rest in the reality that He sees you with all the flaws you feel like you need to fix and with all the earthly accomplishments you feel like you need to achieve, and He still thinks that you are perfect in every way. He created you in His image, and I pray you choose to believe in these truths every single day of your life.